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theatre

This past weekend I didn't feel like going straight home after work. Instead, I went down to the Harbourfront Centre to catch the end of the Day of the Dead Festival with everything from sugar skulls, to Mariachi Bands, to traditional altar displays. Sadly, I got there 20 minutes before it all shut down, and did a quick tour of the lot. I was disappointed to arrive so late, but soon realized all was not lost.

Turns out there was a theatrical performance of Orson Welles' famous radio broadcast of War of the Worlds by the Art of Time Ensemble. Instead of having 11 voice actors, there were 3: Sean Cullen (who has done many things, but I always think of Corky and the Juice Pigs), Nicholas Campbell (who you might know from Haven, or the classic Da Vinci’s Inquest), and Marc Bendavid (The Border).

It was a simple set, leaving the props and costumes to give the impression of time and setting. The main actors stood to the right with microphones in front, scripts in hand. To the far left was live Foley sound effects artist John Gzowski who was fascinating to watch. In the middle were musicians who, in classic form, spent their free time smoking and reading magazines.

Hanging above the cast was an "On Air" sign and a clock, counting off the hour.

As someone who loves to listen to stories, and also enjoys a glimpse of history, I was completely captivated.

You could understand why people tuning in partway into the program might believe the news broadcasts were real. And how, if they didn't stick around to listen until the last quarter, they wouldn't understand that what they were listening to was a theatrical production.